Carbon Nanotubes Activate Store Operated Calcium Entry (SOCE) in Blood Platelets Manifested by STIM-1 Clustering

Published

June 3, 2011

Author(s)

Silvia H. De Paoli Lacerda, Jana Semberova, Karel Holada, Olga Simakova, Steven D. Hudson, Jan Simak

Abstract

Intravascular effects of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a result of their various biomedical applications or environmental/occupational exposure raise serious safety concerns. CNTs potentiate arterial thrombosis in animal models;[1, 2] however, a mechanism of their prothrombotic effects has not been described. We have shown previously that different single-walled and multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs), but not fullerene nC60, induce aggregation of blood platelets.[3][1] We found that MWCNTs activate blood platelets by inducing extracellular Ca2+ influx sensitive to calcium entry inhibitors. Here we show that MWCNTs penetrate through platelet membranes causing injury of the dense tubular system (DTS). This is associated with a marked decrease of calcium in the platelet intracellular stores. Moreover, we demonstrate that MWCNTs induce capping of STIM1 molecules, co-localized with Orai1 molecules in platelets, which indicates activation of the store-operated calcium entry (SOCE). Our findings elucidate a mechanism of the CNT-induced platelet activation, which is critical in blood biocompatibility of carbon nanomaterials.

Citation

Nature Nanotechnology

Volume

5

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

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Keywords

carbon nanotubes, blood platelet aggregation, calcium store, calcium release, nanoparticle

Citation

De, S. , Semberova, J. , Holada, K. , Simakova, O. , Hudson, S. and Simak, J. (2011), Carbon Nanotubes Activate Store Operated Calcium Entry (SOCE) in Blood Platelets Manifested by STIM-1 Clustering, Nature Nanotechnology, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=907199 (Accessed October 11, 2025)